Kendall unveiling

Keeping with tradition, we held an unveiling ceremony for the Kendall grave, now that a year has passed since Oliveta passed away. Circumstances didn't allow anyone other than our family and the Pinkers to be in attendance, but the lovely Darrio videoed and edited the short ceremony for us, to allow us to share it with other family and friends.

Pinnaroo Valley Memorial Park is such a peaceful and sacred place. It is so easy to feel people close to you within the grounds. It was the perfect afternoon, meeting there at dusk, to share their plaque with others.

We were able to get hold of some traditional Samoan tapa for the occasion and carefully covered the grave with it and a white floral wreath.

It was a perfect nod to Oliveta's heritage.

Doug then carefully uncovered the plaque allowing Madeline to place the wreath directly onto the grave as he spoke and read a message from his sister in the US. Her words were so perfect that I want to add them here so we can keep them.

One afternoon, Mum and I were hanging out in her bedroom. She started crying. She was really missing her parents that day and wished she could go overseas to visit their grave. Today, I know how my mum felt.

But I will always remember our special conversation. Aware of her feelings, I aimed to comfort her. I reminded her, that her parents are not in fact, at their gravesite or place of burial. The Book of Mormon teaches that they go to a place prepared for them, and they live as spirits until the resurrection. But this place is filled with others, even family members who have passed. The scriptures teach us that our loved ones are busy! and they are still living. Just not at their gravesite.

I wanted to honor her today, by sharing her love for each of you. Even if you felt she hated you, she really didn't. She was tough because she wanted you to be better. But was one of the most knowledgeable, generous people I'll ever know.

I love you mum. I miss you every single day….. But I will do all I can in my life to choose the Lord... and make sure we will be a family again.

What a perfect final moment for the Kendall family.

I know Stephen and Oliveta are looking out for us and these three kids each and every day. We constantly feel of their love.

 

christmas 2021

this christmas was so different from the past three for our family. today we spent at home, just the five of us, with no one else. last christmas (2020) we knew we didn't have long with doug's mum and worried non stop about her and keeping her comfortable. the one before (2019) we had just days left with doug's dad and couldn't concentrate on much, other than when we would get to the hospital and spend time with him - and the year before that (2018) we had not long found out about doug's mums cancer and doug's dad had taken a turn for the worse. he was so unwell we were really frightened we were going to lose him.

it really lead us to wanting a christmas that involved no one other than us. so that's what we did. for the first time in years at christmas, we didn't have to stress about anything. didn't have to worry about anyone. it was just doug and i and the kids at home with no interruptions or distractions. we didn't go anywhere, we didn't do anything... we spent all our time focused on the kids and their excitement and it was the most perfect christmas yet.

instead of dozens of presents (which was grandma's tradition) we bought the kids a few things each that we knew that they really wanted and were rewarded with huge smiles and a lot of excitement. 

we scored this lego mario switch case for joseph when we bought him the lego luigi set and you could not wipe the smile off his face!

this random minecraft basketball i picked up months ago and stashed away was a huge hit. look at that smile!

alex loved everything. he was so excited to see presents for him. 

but his favourite part was ripping the paper off.

maddie loved her presents from the pinkers - they are all in isolation as theron and emily came from queensland and as intertstate restrictions came into effect again, they had to lockdown with them. uncle taui came to the rescue though, christmas shopping on their behalf and delivering the goods. she loves harry potter things (even though she hasn't read the books or even seen that many of the movies) and was so happy with this shirt

and this super cool "wreck this journal" which i had seen online just last week and had actually saved so i could hunt down a copy for her. it's a journal that you deliberately destroy and all of the pages have different suggestions of how to do so. i love it!

but her favourite gift was her skateboard. she has been asking for one for months and a month or so before christmas, i got online, hunted for a good one and ordered it with plenty of time to arrive. she was soooo happy and kept squealing about it all day. nailed it!

alex got some minion lego from his pinkers and he was thrilled!

i love how happy joseph was today. he so often is serious or subdued, but today we had the best of him with so many laughs and jokes.

before madeline went to bed, she said to me that her favourite part of christmas was getting up in the morning, coming out the lounge and seeing everything set up beautifully at the table ready for our family breakfast. i was so so tired last night (as a mum, part of christmas is being up to all hours the night before, everyone knows that lol) but still made the effort... and was rewarded with a cuddle and maddie reminding me how much she loves it making it so worth it.

these two loved their breakfast and were just so happy!

alex was happy to pose with me for some selfies, smiling away

and this dude was so thrilled to have his mario brothers set complete. 

look. at. that. face.

and my favourite bit of the day? having just us. not having to be anywhere. not having to rush. just relaxing at home.

alex even relaxed enough to fall asleep in the cool aircon, laying on my pillow. it was so cute!

seriously so glad i bought that skateboard haha.

we began the day with tradition, we had left out the scriptures ready for us to read the christmas story when we woke. we alwasy read luke 2 and have family prayer before we do anything else. the kids are allowed to open anything in their stockings, but mum and dad have to sleep until 7am... then we open our presents one by one (so everyone can watch each other and see what we all got) before having christmas brunch.

the kids left out treats for santa and the reindeer as always...

 

and doug and i went to bed once everything was set up just right. it really was the perfect christmas. 

just us. a family.

jen maternity shots - take 4

my best friend jennifer is about to have her fourth and last baby so i was called upon to take maternity shots one last time. as per usual she looked like an absolute babe and getting shots of her was easy.

but. they say you should never work with children or animals and here's why. oh just kidding, how cute are her kids, one perfect shot out of a huge stack and it was actually the first one i snapped.

a very serious jacob for once

the ever smiley isabel

and princess millie!

cannot wait to give this baby cuddles in a few short weeks. i love love love newborns and i am so excited.

❤

we even got daddy mat to bust out his wedding ring for the occasion and i am so glad for it cause this shot is everything!

i just love the two of them and feel so blessed to have them. i've known mat since kindy and jen since year 4 at school. i think as far as friendships go, we are in it for life.

plus, the best part about this shoot was that i finally got to take some photos under the clackline bridge! i have been wanting to for years and here we are. woot.

couldn't resist this one either. mat has always been the class clown

but above all that, he's a fabulous dad.

goodlet sacrament meeting

this sunny lemon tree was the highlight of my week. while lockdown is over, interim restrictions are still in place and we are not allowed to meet in person at the chapel, so home church it is. we all gathered at my brothers house in glen forrest for church and it was really, really nice. being together as a family in uncertain times is something that is so important, as we can lift and help each other when it's hard. i feel grateful for my family every day. knowing i have them within reach is so comforting.

i am grateful for a forever family

dion is 50

i have been so blessed to have the most wonderful older cousin. dion was already 12 when i was born and i have always looked up to her. she seemed to have it all worked out, found her lifelong love when she was still in high school (they are still very happily married!) and was good at everything, always impeccably dressed, with perfect hair and nails and to top it off, is one hell of a mum! plus, she is just as ocd as me, so that makes her even better in my books. i just love her!

i felt so very special to be invited to celebrate with her on saturday night as she and her husband had their joint 50th. even more so that i was allowed to help by bringing along some desserts (brownies and lemon slice) for this amazing dessert table!

i was introduced to all her friends as "my favourite cousin" which made me feel even more special. she has always had a special bond with my mother, having spent a lot of time with her growing up and she was all smiles chatting with the two of us even though it had been quite some time since we had last seen her.

but in all honesty, my favourite part of the night was taking selfies with her and my other cousins that were there - her two sisters. family over everything right? it was a wonderful night and so so good to catch up after far too long apart. ❤

 

boxing day in the city

after a huge day with heaps of people about, this is how our littlest babe spent the morning well past the time he would normally be causing a ruckus. he was absolutely exhausted...

but got over his grumps quickly when madeline let him listen to bts on her new ipod. he was so proud of himself.

due to the insane people that came along with my husband in marriage (his extended family - and don't worry i have already told them this...) we went into the city for the boxing dale sales. oh my word. i would rather die than do that ever, ever again. there was some adorable photo ops for the kids, but the place was nuts.

this made me laugh so hard, joseph refused to move away from the "nice" door and madeline was very unimpressed.

so an argument broke out...

but she finally got her way. she is nice too. the nicest kid i know.

joseph was bored as anything and kept telling me - and i am writing this down so i can remember it in the future and hopefully laugh about it, but oh. my. gosh. favz and josh and doug went into culture kings and stayed in there browsing and buying up a storm (on favz credit card thankfully) for three freaking hours. oh my goodness. i nearly died. oli and i were outside sitting in the mall with alex who was grumpy as anything, but got a full nap in in the end, because they took that long. people have divorced their husbands for less. and after all that, they bought so much stuff, and nothing for me. i see how it is. 

london court my all time favourite place in the city was decorated festively and looked amazing.

there was still cute displays up all over the place and it was fun (for the first hour hahah) but i was sooooo glad to go home. never again. not in a million years would i go to the city on boxing day. case closed.